Apply Stickers with Window cleaner?

[badbob001]

I saw this on the shop.lego.com:

https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Ford-Mustang-GT-75871

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RESPONSE FROM LEGO:
Haley - Consumer Service Specialist, Consumer Services
May 8, 2017
Stickers can be tricky to get just right, but our designers have shared a trick with us to help you apply decals easier. You can lightly spray a window cleaner on the surface of the part you are apply the sticker to. This will allow you to adjust the decal without damaging it. Once you have the decal in the right place, use a flat edge to smooth out any bubbles and let it dry.

Has anyone tried this? Is it even easier? I'm afraid it's going to melt the sticker. Or worse yet, melt clear plastic.

In the US, window cleaner brings to mind Windex:

According to wikipedia, it contains these fun ingredients:

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2-hexoxyethanol, isopropanolamine, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, lauramine oxide, ammonium hydroxide, fragrance, and Liquitint sky blue dye

 

[cimddwc]

Huh. Interesting. Window cleaner is generally a good recommendation to remove price stickers from glasses, plates etc. – so I guess using only a little might indeed weaken/inhibit the adhesive enough to work for the described case. Got to try that one day...

[AmperZand]

I used Windolene to help place the street sign stickers in the mod below and it did make it quite easy. I'm not sure I concur with LEGO's advice to spray the part. I went with just enough to wet the surface of the part, applying the Windolene with a cotton bud.

The parts I used it on were ABS (opaque LEGO parts), not polycarbonate (transparent LEGO parts). More than a year on, the LEGO parts and stickers are just fine; no signs of damage. I suspect transparent parts would be OK too.

  

[DeanLearner]

I’m always somewhat terrified it may adversely affect the adhesive properties of the glue on the stickers (either short or long term), though I imagine it would probably reduce the incidence of minute air bubbles with the transparent pieces.

[greg3]

I use this method all the time and it doesn't seem to have had any negative side effects on the stickers themselves. I apply quite a lot of the cleaner (I use a cheap supermarket own brand) to the surface so the sticker can be slid around into position (using tweezers) before pressing it down. Sometimes it can take a while to dry and stick "permanently" (for some reason the stickers on the new Star Destroyer took almost a day to finally stick completely!) but it works especially well on windscreen stickers ( no more fingerprints or air bubbles!!) and gives you a much better chance to get the sticker just where you want it!! 

[JopieK]

A bit of water with some dish washing soap works well too. That is also how car wrappers do things.

[XBrickmonster]

If you use glue, it doesn't even matter if they are stickers or not

[Brandon Miller]

11 hours ago, JopieK said:

A bit of water with some dish washing soap works well too. That is also how car wrappers do things.

I was going to suggest this also. I use it all the time applying vinyl decals.

[makoy]

11 hours ago, JopieK said:

A bit of water with some dish washing soap works well too. That is also how car wrappers do things.

Does it matter what kind of washing soap? 

[JopieK]

Well I don't know really, but "Dreft" works well in Holland :) It is quite aggressive in cleaning, so a milder version would also work I think. I almost never use it for LEGO stickers though (because I have quite a steady hand, my wife and cousins/nieces leave the sticking mostly to my also of original stickers), but our sticker printer can also print very large stickers (on the same material, comparable to the material that LEGO uses) so I now and then need to use it for larger projects.

@XBrickmonster: using glue with your LEGO is never a good idea I think, unless you want so save a (somewhat) broken piece or are building for a LEGOLAND park or something :) Also be aware that the glue might have an undesired reaction with the glue on the backing of the sticker. 

[MAB]

On 02/11/2017 at 6:59 PM, JopieK said:

A bit of water with some dish washing soap works well too. That is also how car wrappers do things.

I have also done it with washing-up liquid - I used a plant spray type bottle filled with water plus a squirt of washing-up liquid. Works fine.